


a story.

by aloethevera



Category: Dororo (Anime 2019)
Genre: Gen, the relationship will probs come later tho!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 03:39:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19348741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aloethevera/pseuds/aloethevera
Summary: three souls, resigned to their fates in the hellfire of the daigo palace.all of the opinion that their deaths in this place are really for the best, that it is deserved.maybe,just maybe,their sentence can wait.





	1. inferno

**Author's Note:**

> hi i really need a fix-it fic right now thank you   
> i apologize for ooc-ness i haven't actually ever written a formal fic before!!  
> this is just the first chap bc its late and i'll write more soon!!

Hyakkimaru.  
The firstborn, the one who had changed their lives for better or for worse.  
The one who was given away like a bargaining chip, and fought every inch of the way to claw and clutch everything that was rightfully his back to his chest.  
Hyakkimaru was off, to a new adventure, to the happy ending so many tried and failed to take from him. A child made to carry the burden of all of Daigo's land and prosperity in every limb, finally free. 

He left, but they were still there.  
Still there. Still breathing.  
Still alive. 

The second son, his face pale as the waning moon, and the blood gushing from his head like a waterfall, laying on the floor, defeated. 

The lady of the house, her head daintily covered, and her eyes closed, her head filled with thoughts of what could have been.

And the doctor, so penitent of his crimes, resigned to a fiery death, with hopes that this would burn the sins of his past away. 

"Finally, it all ends." Jukai's echoing words, a quiet, somber finale for a tragic aria. 

Their stories would end here, wouldn't they? The fire consuming them, no bodies to be found. There would be nothing to be sad about, would there? 

No. Something in all three of the wretched souls refused. Something that burned brighter than the fire around them. Something that, just like Hyakkimaru had, grit its teeth and yelled: "This will not be how I die!"

Tahomaru took a gasp, slowly, painedly, pushing himself upwards, steadying himself on the pillar he would have died against in another story. His mother's words of staying by his side, her hand against his forehead, finally. He would not let their lives end just when he had gotten this. 

Call him selfish, call him childish, but in this moment, he let himself earnestly dig his heels in and *want* one thing. A happy end, like his brother. 

His mother's concerned gaze, the stranger looking off into the distance, wistfully.  
The young lord staggered to his feet, at long last. 

If the adults could not find the will to carry on here, he'd make them look for it someplace else. 

He stretched a hand out to Nui, who shook her head, at first, resisted the silent plea in Tahomaru's eye. 

His voice was raspy. Speaking felt like someone had failed to string a bow against his vocal cords, then fired from it. And yet ... 

"Please, mother. Come." 

Something within those words ... pierced through Nui. Her son still needed her. She could not die here. 

She took his hand, getting up from the sedentary grave she'd have selected for herself in another story. Her poor boy. Despite everything her husband had tried to teach him, despite all the demons that had made their home inside his head, his heart was kind. 

Tahomaru tried his best to lean on his mother as subtly as possible, to maintain his facade of the perfect son to be proud of. They approached the other, the one Hyakkimaru had called his "mama" as well. 

"Come. Plea-"  
Tahomaru had grabbed hold of Jukai's robe in an effort to keep himself upright as a badly-timed inhale of ash collided with a loose floorboard. 

The doctor was startled out of his trance, thinking that, for a moment, he might have seen the young Hyakkimaru in front of him, stumbling around in his first days of using the legs he had built. 

He cast his eyes on the young lord whose hand grasped him almost pitifully, and the lady which had followed him, and realised that perhaps, his sentence could wait. With a sigh, he put an arm around Tahomaru, hauling him back upright, and left the pole he would die leaning against in another story.

But this is not that story. This is a story of a second chance, and a third, and however many this mismatched party will need for a happy ending.


	2. riverside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a quiet moment, a reprieve, a pause to catch their breath before setting out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for the warm reception!!!  
> this chapter may be a little less coherent than the previous, i may have written it on mobile bc i was super exited to get it posted!  
> feel like i rambled a lot in places,,,  
> please enjoy!

The walk to the nearest river was long and torturous. Somehow, by sheer blind luck, the soot-covered trio had managed the walk to the nearest river, taking refuge from prying eyes in a patch of trees along the riverside. 

The wind was cold on their faces, its howl filling the space where conversation should have been, save for the occaisonal cough from on one of the downtrodden three. 

In the safety of the trees, Tahomaru collapsed.  
The boy's body hit the groud with a dull thud, the sharp inhale that followed showing his regret at not letting himself down more gently. 

The doctor within Jukai woke up. 

Using water from the river, the man cleaned Tahomaru's head wound, around his former eyes especially. The stinging pain kept the young lord awake, as he kept his face as steeled as he could. Mother was watching him, after all. He ... he really wished she didn't have to see him like this, not when he'd finally gotten the acknowledgement he so craved from her. 

Yes ... he did get it, didn't he? Then why did he still feel so cold? Is it because she had waited until her eldest was safe before remembering Tahomaru's existence? Is it because she'd only shown affection to him when he was unable to reciprocate or show gratitude, on what could have been his deathbed? Did ... did he loose again? 

He was pulled back into reality by Jukai's pressing of a water gourd against his lips, the silent direction in the man's eyes clear: "Drink."  
The adrenaline within Tahomaru had allowed him to ignore his body's demands and focus on exiting the flames, yet it was quickly fading, and the cool water against his throat was more than welcome. 

He opened his mouth to thank the doctor, yet nothing came out. 

"Don't speak. It will only make things worse."  
Jukai's counsel seemed professional,almost automated. Tahomaru was not the first half-dead child he had come across, but few of his patients did what the boy did; force Jukai to live. 

There was one other he could think of. 

He watched the tired, faintly soot-streaked face of a boy who despite his age, had a world of responsibility thrust on his shoulders, someone who was forced to grow up and choose between killing his very own brother or leaving his father's land to wither, who had lost the people who made him feel even a little less lonely, drift into unconsciousness. 

On impulse, he ruffled the boy's hair, taking bandages out of his sack and patching his head up to the best of his ability. 

What bewildered Jukai was the former ladyship's ... seeming indifference to her son's suffering. She had clearly shown deep love for her eldest, so it was indeed something she was capable of, and her words of apology amongst the flames .. seemed truly sincere, at least to him. 

He turned his eyes up to look at Nui, who was washing her face of the soot to the best of her ability. It .. wasn't a conscious movement of her hands, she herself was in an almost trance-like state, her thoughts racing. 

What now? What would become of her and her companions? Would it have been better if they had died in the fire in this story? 

It certainly seemed that way to Nui. She felt like she had acted herself into a corner, pouring her love into a son she thought dead, and pouring her life into preserving his when he returned. 

An apology and a tender moment with Tahomaru couldn't atone for the suffering she must have caused him.

The woman was shaken out of her thoughts by a gentle, but calloused hand on her shoulder, gasping in surprise at the sudden contact. 

"My lady, it would be best for us to leave here. After all, night will fall soon, and sleeping outside will not end well for any of us." 

Nui, for a moment, felt like urging Jukai to take Tahomaru, to focus on saving the son that had led them out of the flames, and leave her to succumb to the aftermath of the fire and the threats the night brought. 

But that isn't what she said, or what she did. 

Instead, she returned the doctor's words with a nod, rising to her feet. 

"But where will we go?" she asked, finding the words at long last. 

"There is a small settlement not far from here. The people are few and far between, I doubt we'll be noticed." 

"That sounds...lovely. Should we set out?" Nui worried her words sounded insincere, that she sounded as spoilt as one would expect from the wife of the Lord of Ishikawa. 

"Yes, my lady." 

"Please, there is no need for that. I am hardly a lady at this point. Just Nui is very much alright."  
If she was leaving her life behind, her title would have to go as well. 

Strangely, she felt lighter. 

"Very well," Jukai paused, pondering the best way to carry the injured boy in his care. "Nui. It is a pleasure."  
He picked Tahomaru up, slinging the boy over his shoulder with relative ease.  
For a moment, the doctor tensed, fearing that the boy's breathing had come to a dreaded standstill. 

The relief a check of the young lord's pulse brought was immense. 

And so, not wishing to waste any more time, the fateful triad made haste in their journey towards the settlement. 

A common goal, the second step in a quest, a tangible something to work towards.  
Guiding them, like a lantern in the unforgiving night, towards their happy end.


End file.
